Renaming Rutherford Hall is right to do
I applaud the effort of UGA alumnus Bob Miller to have the name of white supremacist Mildred Lewis Rutherford removed from a building at the university.
Dialoguing with Black Georgians since 2018, I have learned how such monuments and the Confederate flag are an ongoing, painful slap in the face to all Black Americans. I hope and urge that UGA leadership, the Board of Regents and many students and alumni will back Bob’s effort and remove this insulting affront. It is clearly the right thing to do, and it will enhance the image of our fine university.
JOHN R. DEARIE, SR., PRESIDENT AT RACE RELATIONS DIALOGUE
Atlanta’s traffic systems are inefficient
Doug Turnbull had a great article on congestion, especially on signal timing. (“Small tweaks can improve our traffic in big ways,” AJC, May 11)
All signals, especially on arterials and major local streets, should be activated, and systems should be timed for morning, lunch and evening peaks during the week, on Saturday and on Sunday. Maintaining the loop detectors and other “lane occupancy devices” should be mandatory and include pedestrian signals.
I keep hearing about smart traffic systems, but the hardware must be programmed and adjusted by “dumb” traffic engineers, and there must be inefficient programs. I realize that signal timing prioritizes incoming traffic in the morning and outbound traffic in the evening (peak hours of directional flow), but some are so biased that they do not address real conditions.
Also, lengthening or even installing adequate turn lane lengths would be an improvement. Case in point: Cheshire Bridge/Lenox Road from I-85 to Lindbergh/Lavista.
Ditch the stitch. Spend the money on pothole repair and repaving, as well as operational improvements. Fix what you have before doing the nice-to-haves.
JOE PALLADI, BROOKHAVEN
Mothers don’t need more government intrusion
What a lovely story about valuing mothers. Sophia A. Nelson’s “This Mother’s Day, let’s act like we really value moms,” AJC, May 11, turns a tribute to mothers into a political tirade, seeking an increased role for government in mothers’ lives.
My late mother would have recoiled at the government’s overbearing and intrusive actions affecting not just mothers but families in general. But in Ms. Nelson’s world, where the government has already diminished fathers’ familial role by serving as replacements in many single-mother households, the government should do even more.
And what celebrates a mother’s value more than Ms. Nelson’s lamenting the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which signaled motherhood as something to escape rather than being honored and cherished?
My wife, blessed by and a blessing to her children and grandchildren, has always claimed that every day is Mother’s Day, and that feeling has nothing to do with the government and what it does and doesn’t do.
GREGORY MARSHALL, MARIETTA
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
